Excerpt from FC&A's How to Do (Just About) Everything Right.

How Powerful is Your Microwave?

Check your microwave’s power so you’ll know how long to cook packaged foods. Use the minimum suggested cooking time for high-wattage ovens.

Time-to-boil test

1. Fill a two-cup glass measure with water and ice cubes and stir until ice melts.
2. Pour out water to the one-cup mark.
3. Heat it in the microwave on high for four minutes, watching through the window to see how long it takes to boil.

Less than two minutes — high-wattage oven, 1,000 or more watts.

Two and one-half minutes — medium wattage, about 800 watts.

Three minutes — low wattage, 650 to 700 watts.

More than three minutes — very low wattage, 300 to 500 watts.

© FC&A Publishing